The present invention relates to on-board weather radar for use on aircraft or other vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for rendering hazardous condition features more recognizable by pilots or the operators of other vehicles.
Weather has been identified as a cause or contributing factor to nearly 25% of aviation accidents and 35% of fatalities. Accidents occur when a chain of events leads to a failure of an aircraft system, a mistake on part of the crew piloting the aircraft, or a combination thereof. Improved levels of weather information and the use of pilot decision aids may be helpful in breaking the chain of events that leads to an accident.
On-board weather radar is a tactical navigation aid that shows convective hazards for the next 15 to 30 minutes of flight. The on-board weather radar currently serves as the focus of a pilot""s awareness of the weather situation. It provides a graphical depiction of precipitation relative to the aircraft""s position. The presence of turbulence can be inferred from these reflections off of precipitation. Through the use of Doppler processing, turbulence can also be detected and displayed directly.
While the on-board weather radar has proven invaluable as a real-time source of tactical weather information, it has limitations. For example, there are features of weather radar images that indicate hazardous conditions may exist. Since some of these features occur infrequently, pilots may not be able to maintain proficiency in correctly interpreting these features. Since some of these features are short-lived (i.e., are only displayed for a short period of time), pilots may not notice the potential hazard and may not take appropriate action. A method of increasing the likelihood that a pilot will notice a potential hazard on the weather radar image, and thus take appropriate action, would be a significant improvement in the art.
A method of providing weather radar images to a user includes obtaining radar image data corresponding to a weather radar image to be displayed. The radar image data is image processed to identify a feature of the weather radar image which is potentially indicative of a hazardous weather condition. The weather radar image is displayed to the user along with a notification of the existence of the feature which is potentially indicative of the hazardous weather condition. Notification can take the form of textual information regarding the feature, including feature type and proximity information. Notification can also take the form of visually highlighting the feature, for example by forming a visual border around the feature. Other forms of notification can also be used.